A Trendy New Food Hall is Bringing Global Street Food, Burgers and More to Bellevue

The future of mall dining at the Bellevue Collection's Lincoln Square.

Back in June, we wrote about how mall dining in Seattle has finally gotten pretty darn good. (It’s no Tokyo, but it has improved pretty dramatically beyond greasy slices from Sbarro.) One of the pieces to that story was the Lincoln Square expansion to the Bellevue Collection. At the time, those places were all hypothetical. But over the last few months, they’ve been opening, with the final new project—a trendy new food hall—coming mid-December.

The original wave of restaurant openings there included chef Jason Wilson’s the Lakehouse (plus a sexy basement speakeasy), Wild Ginger’s new location, an Eastside branch of Japonessa and Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chão, among others. In the last few months, we’ve seen the opening of Chinese noodle house Baron’s Xi’an Kitchen and Bar, Central Bar and Restaurant, Duke’s Chowder House and, on Sunday, the newest Taylor Shellfish oyster outpost.

But the Lincoln South Food Hall, located on the second floor, will be the most casual—the most resembling a traditional mall food court. Only here, the fast food joints of our youth have been replaced by seven or so stalls slinging poke, street tacos, baguette sandwiches and noodle soup. There will be room to dine there, but also plenty of options for provisions to take out.

Ever since Melrose Market opened in 2010, food halls have been all the rage—there’s even a hip food court in Olympia now. Unlike Melrose Market or Chophouse Row, though, where different owners run the various businesses represented, Lincoln South Food Hall is all from the same partner group: Eastside couple Paul and Elaina Herber and their partner, and lead curator on this project, Jeffrey Frederick, who has a long list of credentials that includes mostly big name Las Vegas establishments. The executive chef, Daniel Laferriere, is also a Las Vegas alum.

So will these folks be able to provide Bellevue with the kind of locally sourced, artisan made, internationally inspired foods they’ve promised? We’ll find out when they open next month.